T-Mobile G-slate

Review summary

Good points

• 4G capabilities

• 3D capabilities

• Great size

• Light and portable

Bad points

• Cheap backing

• Battery life drained by 4G & 3D

• Poor camera

Our verdict

We were very surprised at how many features are on the T-Mobile slate – with 4G and 3D capabilities only now be introduced to the best tablets right now, to see a one capable of these features a year ago, we are generally surprised. But noticing it didn’t sell that well, we question if the other features are quite up to scratch.

Full review

The T-Mobile Slate, developed in partnership with LG electronics, seems to be quite a successful tablet in the US. It has pushed the bar up on features like connectivity and display, but it seems to have forgotten some of the basics that users still enjoy while flying on their imaginary clouds.

Display

1,280 x 768 is a small and quite skinny display –the pixel density is very good, pixels are very close together and the overall look is one that is both crisp and clear.

That being said, the G-slate does have an erroneous display defect, which is that it leaves a rather yellow, warm, tangy glow.

3D effects on the display work well where you can find them, as not many applications actually run in 3D. The 3D does have negative effects on your processor speed and battery life though – we found that it almost halves your battery life and you may find lag when using the 3D.

Design

Design similarities seem to crop up when a manufacturer works on the same sort of product, LG have already used their 3D technologies in their smartphones, and it seems they’ve also got an idea in their head that the way the Optimus 2X was design is the way tablets should be designed.

The plastic matte backing seems cheap and very original on an Android tablet, we would have liked to a stronger, sturdier material, but it may be to some people’s fancies.

With the thinness of the G-slate, we found some buttons to be a little annoying when trying to press, but they are still usable.

Operating System

Honeycomb has been succeeded quite a while ago, and it seems the G-Slate was just one of the unfortunate tablets not to get the taste of Ice Cream Sandwich.

Still, we find it runs relatively well and multitasking is okay, but I wouldn’t say it could take on the recent Android devices.

We found the Honeycomb experience, overall, to be one of confusion, it seems the 3.0 Android OS takes on simple tasks like a minefield, and we are left sitting there, watching the OS blow its legs off for no apparent reason. Simple tasks can be a nightmare and we found that sometimes the OS can be erratic in decision making, going from loading an app to shutting down your device.

Apps

The Android market is still quite stale, even though it’s getting better and by 2013 should be near to level with i.OS

Honeycomb does have a lot of apps that can be used, but not many tablet apps. We found that the basics weren’t even covered, never mind those couple of niche apps you enjoy using.

Features

3D capabilities is one of the main features of this tablet – even though LG are well known for it, it seemed surprising that a tablet would come packed with this feature.

It seems though, 3D just isn’t really all there yet on smartphones and tablets, there’s been no smartphone or tablet that has had the feature installed and had it working well. This 3D just wrecks the battery life and slows processing speeds.

Connectivity

Thanks to T-Mobile, this was one of the first, if not the first tablet, to come packed with 4G capabilities. The 4G, even though very speedy, does take up a lot of the battery life.

The tablet comes packed with a Wi-Fi antenna too, in case you don’t want those 4G battery munching speeds.

Camera

A 5-megapixel rear camera with 3D capabilities seems like a nice idea, but it is executed poorly on the LG/T-Mobile G-Slate. We found that the photos are grainy, dull and focus works as well as the 3D does, by which I mean, it hardly works well at all.

The front camera works fine, although the video-calls are very grainy as you’d expect.

Battery

10 to 12 hours is the average you will find, that is if you are never intercepted by a 4G connection and never use your 3D software.

Have a 4G connection, you will see battery life slum to a petty 6 or 7 hours, use 3D as well and you may see as little as 4 hours.

Video calling and video playback doesn’t seem that strenuous on the battery though, too bad there aren’t that many videos on the market.

Overall

Even though we enjoyed using the 3D, 4G capable tablet, we were only allowed a few hours before we had to charge the T-Mobile G-Slate. It’s a fun phone, but quite outdated in the current market.

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